LoTRO's new Senior Producer?

[Bhoris_they_spider]

so? wow look everyone the producers name is Bob! look at my new insight! everyone gather around and bask in it.

Actually this would tell us something new, as we would know that Aaron Campbell has at least been replaced with someone new to work on the game. As it stands we know a member of the LOTOR team has moved away from the game but have no idea if they are to replaced. Down-sizing a development team does not send out a good message for the health of a game.

[Brinswith]

you have a really short memory since it was only an hour ago when YOU quoted me, and then attacked me. You instigated the entire exchange between us, and now say you are being picked on by me? unbelievable.

To be posting in a thread about producers when you neither know nor care who they are or will be i think is an attempt to bait people. The fact is that some people do know and always have done and they would like to know who the next will be. To know who it is allows people to look at their past work to gain an idea of what they have done with other IPs and gives an insight into what we might expect, no guarantees but some possibilities.
Now i dont see why you cant just let people wonder about this topic that they might be interested in and that you have said does not impact your gameplay anyway..

[xusia]

Some folk are just content to play a game and do not care for the back office situation.

I however, take a keen interest in the business side of things. Changes to Turbines team may have an impact upon their games.

Take a popular TV show and consider how a change of producer or writers can have a big impact. I'm sure we can all think of examples.

Therefore this is a pertinent question to raise, irrespective of who asked it. I look forward to the answer.

[Macroscian]

Hello new person poster! Are you the same who respammed some blog all week?

Regards

/a fellow gamer

[cossieuk]

I want to know who the new senior producer is
I want to know the road map for the next 6-9 months like DDO get
I wonder what has happened to the senior producer of DDO, have to moved on. Is this just a shuffling of jobs.

For a community that likes to say it is mature and passionate, some of the hostility in this thread makes that claim laughable. If you dont care who the management of the game is that why post in a thread asking who the new management is.

[JRonnie]

Dude...quit Trolling.....

It is a legit question....

Shush, you're interrupting the derailment process so that the thread gets locked and the question never has to be answered. Surely you know the procedure by now, or are you new here?

[hisoka-thorongil]

Only if he wants to. He's certainly competent as all hell.

My eyes fell out of my head, can anyone help me retrieve them?

[Sapience]

So, back to the original question at hand. Sapience, could you shed some light on this please?

Kate Paiz is still our Excutive producer, and is the person all of you are actually talking about in terms of "direction of the game." That's what the EP does. Some of this is also shared with our Design Director, Derek Flippo who some of you may remember from our Twitter Dev Chats.

One of Aaron's primary responsibilities was to speak with the press during releases. Hannah Foell (one of our other LOTRO Producers) who has been doing this with Aaron for some time now will be taking that on solo now, though we may throw devs, other producers, and hapless community managers in there with her from time to time.

Only if he wants to. He's certainly competent as all hell.

DO NOT WANT!

[manstan]

DO NOT WANT!

Ya, when I read the suggestion earlier I figured you had better sense

[xusia]

Hannah Foell (one of our other LOTRO Producers) who has been doing this with Aaron for some time now will be taking that on solo now, though we may throw devs, other producers, and hapless community managers in there with her from time to time.

Thanks for the clarification as to who's doing what.

[Eartholloth]

DO NOT WANT!

Oh come on Sapience, it'd be fun.

[Thrabath]

Thx for the update

Will we get something like a timeline DDO got from their new producer?


On a more serious note, I vaguely remember that we would get more updates from Kate Paiz then we used to get, is their an update/letter to the fans scheduled in the near future? It would be nice to hear some directions of thought for the near and further future

[Sapience]

Thx for the update

Will we get something like a timeline DDO got from their new producer?


On a more serious note, I vaguely remember that we would get more updates from Kate Paiz then we used to get, is their an update/letter to the fans scheduled in the near future? It would be nice to hear some directions of thought for the near and further future

Kate usually writes a producer's letter towards the end of the year. I think the rest of this year is pretty clearly laid out.

Forums overhaul.
Helms Deep.
Class revamps.
Housing updates.

[Fionnuala]

Kate usually writes a producer's letter towards the end of the year.

With all due respect, the producer's letter we get for LOTRO are pathetic and so vague as to be practically useless. You guys really need to try harder in the communication with players department.

[Crell_1]

Forums overhaul.

Speaking of the Forums overhaul, it's now after the 4th of July, do you perhaps have an updated time-table you can share?

I've been using data.lotro.com to help track my SoA character's progression and ensure I didn't miss-checking off any of my quests on the checksheet.

[Sapience]

With all due respect, the producer's letter we get for LOTRO are pathetic and so vague as to be practically useless. You guys really need to try harder in the communication with players department.

Dev chats with hundreds of direct questions asked and answered. Hundreds of dev posts this year with answers to questions. Not to mention my own (I'm not a dev so I don't count my answers with theirs). A 20 Questions post with long standing questions ansered just a few weeks ago, another 20 questions coming later this week. Plans for future Twitter Dev chats later this month. A number of threads recently where I've personally answered very direct questions with very direct answers in both general forums and PvMP forums.

So I'm going to have to assume I, or someone, hasn't personally answered your question. So feel free to ask it (and I bet I answered it somewhere recently).

[TheNightAngel]

Dev chats with hundreds of direct questions asked and answered. Hundreds of dev posts this year with answers to questions. Not to mention my own (I'm not a dev so I don't count my answers with theirs). A 20 Questions post with long standing questions ansered just a few weeks ago, another 20 questions coming later this week. Plans for future Twitter Dev chats later this month. A number of threads recently where I've personally answered very direct questions with very direct answers in both general forums and PvMP forums.

So I'm going to have to assume I, or someone, hasn't personally answered your question. So feel free to ask it (and I bet I answered it somewhere recently).

Will we receive our Helm's Deep update today? =)

[Sapience]

Will we receive our Helm's Deep update today? =)

No. And I've answered that a few times (with the same answer).

[TheNightAngel]

No. And I've answered that a few times (with the same answer).

Ask every day and eventually we'll get our yes =P

[AlphaStrike]

Dev chats with hundreds of direct questions asked and answered. Hundreds of dev posts this year with answers to questions. Not to mention my own (I'm not a dev so I don't count my answers with theirs). A 20 Questions post with long standing questions ansered just a few weeks ago, another 20 questions coming later this week. Plans for future Twitter Dev chats later this month. A number of threads recently where I've personally answered very direct questions with very direct answers in both general forums and PvMP forums.

So I'm going to have to assume I, or someone, hasn't personally answered your question. So feel free to ask it (and I bet I answered it somewhere recently).

When is the forum update?

[Sapience]

When is the forum update?

Currently slated for the end of the month (though I did previously say after the 4th).

Lotteries and forum account migrations are the current sticking points.

[spelunker]

Dev chats with hundreds of direct questions asked and answered. Hundreds of dev posts this year with answers to questions. Not to mention my own (I'm not a dev so I don't count my answers with theirs). A 20 Questions post with long standing questions ansered just a few weeks ago, another 20 questions coming later this week. Plans for future Twitter Dev chats later this month. A number of threads recently where I've personally answered very direct questions with very direct answers in both general forums and PvMP forums.

So I'm going to have to assume I, or someone, hasn't personally answered your question. So feel free to ask it (and I bet I answered it somewhere recently).

If all of this communication is happening, why do so many members of the community think you (the lotro team) are so unclear, leave us in the dark too much about the games direction, and/or are avoiding certain topics?

Why do you think there is this disconnect between what information members of the community think they're being given and what you think you are giving to them, Sapience?

[Souldan]

Dev chats with hundreds of direct questions asked and answered. Hundreds of dev posts this year with answers to questions. Not to mention my own (I'm not a dev so I don't count my answers with theirs). A 20 Questions post with long standing questions ansered just a few weeks ago, another 20 questions coming later this week. Plans for future Twitter Dev chats later this month. A number of threads recently where I've personally answered very direct questions with very direct answers in both general forums and PvMP forums.

So I'm going to have to assume I, or someone, hasn't personally answered your question. So feel free to ask it (and I bet I answered it somewhere recently).

And this litany of tasks constitutes good communication? Just a devil's advocate question really, but it seems to me a pitiful use of time and resources considering that if communication were less vague in those letters to begin with the need for "hundreds of dev posts" about them would likely be less. Of course things change over time and new information could/would be added, but I think the fact that we tend to get piecemeal info like this, spread out all over the place (and good luck tracking it all down) is what people take issue with.

[Sapience]

If all of this communication is happening, why do so many members of the community think you (the lotro team) are so unclear, leave us in the dark too much about the games direction, and/or are avoiding certain topics?

Why do you think there is this disconnect between what information members of the community think they're being given and what you think you are giving to them, Sapience?

I've answered that in another thread as well. In fact that was a large portion of the entire discussion. Simply put, the same reason you see people post that the game is unavailable and they don't know why despite the fact that the launcher (literally in front of their faces)- in three languages, the forums - in three languages, Facebook - in three languages, and Twitter all say there is maintenance and downtime at the time of their post and the game is unavailable, yet they have not bothered to read the message.

Someone, and I know people hate this example, recently asked why we refuse to answer the question about whether or not we will be making a new PvMP map. Despite the fact we've said no a dozen times and repeated it a dozen more (and links to these answers in the Twitter dev chat were in the launcher - again directly in front of your face when you log in). There are many examples I can give like this.

[Sapience]

And this litany of tasks constitutes good communication? Just a devil's advocate question really, but it seems to me a pitiful use of time and resources considering that if communication were less vague in those letters to begin with the need for "hundreds of dev posts" about them would likely be less. Of course things change over time and new information could/would be added, but I think the fact that we tend to get piecemeal info like this, spread out all over the place (and good luck tracking it all down) is what people take issue with.

Read the above. I find it interesting this is rapidly becoming a direct copy of the last thread (which is heavily mapped in the dev tracker should one care to look), where all of this was addressed. including the fact that the dev tracker exists for exactly this purpose.